Plans to erect a new four-storey office and retail building at an empty lot on Victoria Street have been given in-principle approval.

The planning application proposed the construction a new building at 9 Victoria Street that would feature ground-level retail spaces along with room for six office spaces above.

The developer behind the project said the proposal would contribute positively to the urban fabric of the City and align with the goals of the City of Hamilton 2025 plan.

A letter outlining grounds in support of the application was uploaded to the planning department’s Customer Self Service portal before the latest City plan became operative on June 9, superseding the 2015 plan.

It said: “The proposed massing respects the surrounding urban context and is set back from all boundaries except for the shared party wall with 11 Victoria Street, in keeping with typical built form in this part of the City.

“Although the development is urban in nature, attention has been paid to softening the impact of the building through the provision of on-site planting and integrated landscape elements, which support the plan’s design objectives for environmental quality and visual amenity.

“We confirm that the proposal has been developed to fully comply with the relevant policies and regulations of the City of Hamilton Plan 2015, including those related to land use, building height, setbacks, streetscape integration and service infrastructure.”

However, the lack of a setback from the neighbouring Victoria Hall sparked an objection over its impact on plans to convert the building into a hotel.

A letter of objection said that the proposal would block a number of windows planned for the hotel project, rendering a quarter of the hotel rooms inoperable and jeopardising the viability of the project.

The objector suggested setting the building back or flipping the layout so that a landscaped area included in the proposal could serve as a buffer between the buildings.

The developer responded to the objection stating that planning policies allowed for lawful development up to shared boundaries in urban zones and did not extend protections to “speculative residential conversions”.

The developer said proposals to “flip” the plans were not practical or policy supported, arguing that the hotel project’s reliance on boundary line features did not justify altering a policy-compliant design.

A response to the objection, uploaded on July 10, said that the proposal “complies fully with the City of Hamilton Plan 2025”, noting that features included pedestrian-friendly urbanism and active ground-floor uses.

In a report prepared for the Development Applications Board, a technical officer noted that the proposal was “assessed against the relevant policies contained in the City of Hamilton Plan 2015” and recommended that the application be granted in-principal approval.

The officer added that while there is a policy requirement for public art or public realm community benefit, it was not required at the in-principle stage.

The report said: “The department considers this matter could reasonably be reserved and later secured at final approval stage, and a condition has been imposed accordingly to secure these details at a later date to which the applicant agreed, and confirmed full awareness of this policy requirement and will incorporate it at the final approval stage.”

The project was formally approved by the DAB on Wednesday, with the conflict between the neighbouring projects noted.

The minutes of the DAB meeting said: “A board member asked if this application was considered under the City of Hamilton Plan 2025, would it be compliant, notwithstanding it must be considered under the City of Hamilton Plan 2015 due to received date.

“The technical officer confirmed that to the best of his knowledge, yes.

“One board member expressed concern due to the recently approved hotel project on the adjacent property, as this might impact the future development of the hotel.

“The technical officer confirmed that this application is fully compliant with the City of Hamilton Plan 2015. Another technical officer confirmed the objector was aware at least six months prior to that application being considered by the board that this property was going to be redeveloped.

“A board member confirmed that this property owner objected to the proposed hotel development.”